King Saul the Man After the Flesh

By Samuel Ridout

Part 2

Chapter 13

The Man after God's own
Heart

1
Samuel 16; 17.

The people's
choice, king Saul, has already proved himself unworthy of
the position of rule and service to which he had been
called, and was therefore set aside. The act was not a
public one, and so far as we know, the people as yet had no
knowledge of it. With God, however, there was no thought of
change. It was not the chastening of one of His children who
would thus be recalled to the path of obedience, but Saul
had manifested himself as unalterably unfit, because
inherently disobedient. His reign indeed goes on as if
nothing had occurred, except the significant absence of
Samuel from the royal presence. Doubtless, this was not
unusual in the sense that prophets do not usually dwell in
kings' courts, and perhaps even in David's day of glory, the
prophet did not constantly abide near the king. Samuel's
absence, therefore, may possibly not have been known; or, if
so, the people at least probably did not realize the full
significance of it. Saul is allowed to go on and thus fully
to manifest his unfitness.

Meanwhile,
however, God calls for the man of His choice, who is one day
to supersede the people's choice. This is in harmonious
accord with God's ways, both with individuals and
dispensations. Nations are rejected, and yet allowed, as in
the case of the Amorites, to go on for years until the
measure of their iniquity should be full. Individuals who
have taken a final stand in rejecting Christ are not
immediately cut off, but go on throughout life, surrounded
still by every token of God's goodness, if they might even
yet be led to repentance, though unalterably crystallized in
their opposition to God. For such, in an awful sense,
eternity has already begun. Well is it for us, that we do
not know who such are, or when they are thus rejected. How
solemn the thought: "Ephraim is joined to his idols; let him
alone."

"There is a time, we know not when,A
point, we know not where,That marks the destiny of
men To glory or despair."

So, too, dispensationally, Israel was rejected
as a vessel of testimony when the captivity to Babylon took
place; yet they were restored again to their own land, and
then, too, later on, came in the true Anointed of the Lord,
while yet the nation as such went on, being allowed to
manifest their character and to fill up the iniquity of
their fathers.

So, the four Gospels give us
what we have in type, the Pharisees and the nation at large
fully manifested, indeed rejected as in Matthew 12, and yet
allowed to go on until the final rejection of the testimony
of the Holy Ghost, with Stephen. Then it is that the
testimony goes out to the Gentiles, and Christ is seen to be
no longer connected with the nation as such. However,
judgment still lingers, and the destruction of Jerusalem did
not take place until years later, when there was the final
break up of Judaism, which answered to the death of king
Saul.

Returning for a moment to the fact of
the two natures in the believer, we have something similar
to this. "That is first which is natural, and afterward that
which is spiritual." The flesh we inherit, and it manifests
itself; spite of every safeguard of care and testimony of
mercy and truth given, it proves itself to be utterly unfit
for God and is set aside. Grace then comes in and Christ is
formed in the heart of the believer by faith. It would
answer to the call, we might say, of David. Still, however,
the flesh remains in us, no longer to be in authority, but
by its presence to be a constant witness to what nature is,
and how it cannot be trusted. The day is coming when its
very presence will be banished.

This brings
us to the narrative before us. Our special subject is king
Saul and to trace his course, so we must follow him on to
his end, gathering the lessons his history affords and, by
contrast, learn of Christ. We cannot follow the life of
David, save as it is interwoven with the history of Saul. It
would be a far more attractive subject, but has been so
fully treated by others, that there is not the same
necessity, perhaps, for going into detail.1

David's genealogy is given to us from the beginning. He
stands out as one of the landmarks in the genealogy of our
Lord, from Abraham down, as given in Matthew, or back,
through His mother's line, as probably is the case in Luke,
still to David and thus back to Adam. Abraham's side is
given and the line of Judah singled out, and in that, Boaz
continues the descent until Jesse is reached. Any
examination of this genealogy would lead us too far from our
subject and we must content ourselves with commending it to
those who desire to prosecute that study further.

Samuel is sent to Bethlehem, the former home of Boaz, and
where Jesse, the son of Obed, had his family inheritance. He
shrinks from the danger involved in going thus, because Saul
would hear of it and surmise his object, and the prophet
seems to know instinctively that the man who is afraid of
the people, still had such love for his own position that he
would not shrink from putting him to death. God quiets the
fears of His servant, however, by telling him to take a
heifer and go to Bethlehem and say that he had come to offer
sacrifice.

This has doubtless been thought
to suggest a subterfuge on the part of the prophet which God
commanded him to adopt, but this comes from ignoring the
tremendous significance of the sacrifice and its prominent
place in the mind of God. With Him, and with faith, a
sacrifice meant no light matter, but that by which alone He
could be truly approached. Indeed, king Saul's own anointing
had been associated with a sacrificial feast. Bearing in
mind that the sacrifice refers to the atoning death of
Christ, our shelter from judgment, we can see its place of
supremest importance.

Then, too, Samuel was
not told to conceal his object, but to anoint the son of
Jesse, presumably before as many as might be present at the
feast. Thus, we have a beautiful type of the sheltering
value of the sacrifice of Christ. Under its protection, the
servant of the Lord can go forward in the very face of his
enemies, knowing that all the enmity of the flesh can do
nothing against that sacrifice. King Saul himself, with all
his hardihood, dared not lay unholy hands upon one who had
such protection.

The men of Bethlehem seem
to share Samuel's thoughts as though knowing that the visit
of the prophet was no idle matter, and so ask him: "Comest
thou peaceably?" How our poor hearts shrink from turmoil and
conflict, even when necessary, and how most would prefer the
undisturbed reign of the flesh, rather than have the
conflict which they fear from the presence of the Spirit
striving against the flesh.

Of the
anointing, we need say but little. It is a very striking
repetition of the lesson in king Saul's choice. The prophet
himself here is deceived when the eldest son of Jesse is
presented. "Surely, the Lord's anointed is before Him." But
Eliab, as Saul, is not to be chosen for the height of his
stature. "The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh
on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the
heart." All Jesse's sons are thus set aside until the
youngest is sent for.

All through
Scripture, we find the setting aside of the elder. Thus,
Abel is accepted, while Cain is rejected. Isaac and Jacob
are both younger sons; Reuben, the first-born, must be set
aside, and Judah's own children illustrate the same truth
that nature's excellence and the rights of primogeniture are
not to be respected in the things of God. Fittingly, too,
David is connected with the keeping of the sheep. A shepherd
has always suggested Him who is the Shepherd of Israel, and
the Good Shepherd, who giveth His life for the sheep.

When David is presented, there is an attractiveness about
him which commends him. There is the glow of healthy vigor
and the beauty of a countenance which expressed in some
measure the beauty of the spirit within. He is anointed
among his brethren, and here we see the choice of God
resting upon him, marked out by the oil, a type of the Holy
Spirit, even as our Lord was anointed with the Holy Ghost
and with power for His work in the midst of an ungodly
nation.

The Spirit comes upon David from
that day, and while he resumes his lowly service of caring
for the sheep, all would now have a new significance, at
least in the mind of Samuel. The Spirit which had come upon
David, the true anointed one, now leaves Saul, and he is
afflicted with an evil spirit from the Lord. This seems to
be a clearly marked case of demon possession. One who has
rejected the word of God is given over to the power of
Satan. It is striking that we find so many cases of demon
possession in the life of our Lord, and in beautiful accord
with the thought of His mastery over the demons, we see here
David, His type, called in to soothe the troubled spirit of
king Saul when afflicted by the demon. Of the nature of that
affliction, we cannot speak minutely. Unquestionably, there
was a sense of being forsaken of God, no longer having His
approval. Of the utter hopelessness and despair of this, no
one could speak fully. It was likely accompanied by certain
clouding of the mind, or at least, such an oppression that
one was rendered totally unfit for the performance of any
duty.

It has sometimes been said that king
Saul was afflicted with insanity. This is not the truth.
Alas, it was not insanity, but the demon of evil to which he
had yielded himself and which now asserts itself as his
master. What a picture of him who but a little while ago was
the proud victor over the hosts of Ammon, who was acclaimed
with joy by the people as the man of their choice and who
had the fullest privileges of the prophet's guidance, and,
above all, the power of God with him! Here he is, brought so
low that even his servants can only pity him. And such is
the consequence of disobedience, seen here in full measure
in the setting aside of one whose abilities and powers
towered above all others in his time.

The
servants' thought of relief is that a sweet singer should
soothe the poor king in his hours of despair, and they
suggest, with his approval, a man exactly suited for this.
It is none other than David; and how the providence of God
thus brings him into the presence of the king! There is a
solemn thought that there is a kind of ministry of Christ of
so soothing a character that the fears and distress of a
soul may be measurably relieved without any radical cure
being effected. David evidently here is a type of Christ,
who by His Spirit in the ordinary ministration of His word,
with its sweet tale of God's love and care, of His power too
over evil, of the comfort which He brings to His own,
affords solace even to those who are in their hearts
estranged from God.

Our Lord while here,
relieved many a case of suffering, such as the impotent man
in John 5, where His mercy was not allowed to extend further
because of the unbelief of the heart. There were doubtless
many out of whom He cast demons, who remained still
strangers in heart to Him. So, too, in the present day many
in Christendom itself have been, we might say, soothed by
the sweetest songs of redeeming love that have ever been
heard, who yet in heart have refused the full benefit of
that redemption.

Saul is attracted to
David. The melody has its effect, and he is for the time
relieved. He greatly loves him too, and makes him his
armorbearer, but it goes no further. He is still the proud,
though rejected man, and has no thought of giving to David
the place which God had given him — a place which, had he
but known it, would have meant abiding peace for Saul
himself.

The victory over Goliath and the
Philistines, recorded in 1 Sam. 17, shows how completely
unnerved Saul had become by his affliction, and how fully
David was qualified to step into the place of the trembling
king. It was the Philistines, enemies of Saul throughout his
reign, who, spite of the victory of Jonathan, had reasserted
their power, who now come up to threaten Israel.

The names of the place here are no doubt suggestive, as
elsewhere. Shochoh, "His tabernacle," and Azekah, "a fence,"
as we might say, which protects the tabernacle. Ephes-dammim,
"the boundary of blood," suggests that outcome of any
struggle in which the people might engage without a
God-appointed leadership. Remembering that the Philistines
stand for a carnal religious establishment, and, as we have
seen, representing outwardly that spirit of Pharisaic
profession for which Saul himself stands, it will be seen
that he had no power against them. Indeed, the lesson which
is stamped upon the whole life of Saul is this. He succeeds
only in the measure in which he is distinct from the enemy
whom he opposes, but when that enemy is the embodiment of
his own character, how could he have power against it? And
this is true with all. The empty talk about self-mastery is
practically the dividing of a kingdom against itself. The
very conflict that confronts a Christian is the witness at
least, that he is not the enemy whom
he is opposing, and though he may be overwhelmed again and
again, still the enemy is not himself.

The
champion of the Philistines, Goliath of Gath, is a magnified
Saul, where human greatness is energized by Satanic power.
Goliath is said to mean "banishment." He is from Gath, "the
winepress," a foreshadowing of the doom of that which arrays
itself against God and His people, — banishment and treading
in the winepress of His wrath, but it is this very
banishment which is the weapon that strikes terror into the
heart of those who are threatened by it: and Rome, to which
the Philistines answer, has ever shaken this dread weapon
against the trembling subjects of its authority.

Goliath's brazen armor and the number six connected with his
stature and the weight of his spear's head, suggest the
power of evil reaching is height as the number of the Beast
in Revelation. Against such armor and such a stature, the
king of Israel, who has no excellence except what belongs to
him by nature, appears as a pygmy, and his armor worthless.
Even Jonathan, too, here, man of faith though he is, cannot
withstand the fearful assault. He evidently recognizes his
own limitation and knows that if deliverance is to come, it
must be by the hand of another. All here is most striking
and suggestive, and the utter powerlessness of Israel to do
aught, shows the complete need of a deliverer.

David's three older brothers, as we have already seen, have
excellence of a character similar, but inferior, to that of
king Saul itself. It is the excellence of nature. David thus
comes on the scene in the glow of youth, but with no outward
display of power comparable with that mighty enemy. We see
in him that power which is of God, manifested in its
perfection in our Lord who came in lowliness, as did David
from his father with the message of love to his brethren;
who seeing the enemy, goes forth to meet him in what was a
real "boundary of blood" and a valley, apparently not of
Elah, "mighty one," but of weakness.

He
discards the armor of Saul, inferior, indeed as it was to
that of Goliath, and going down into the brook, gathers five
stones, the number of human weakness linked with divine
power, the number too of our Lord's incarnation, God with
man; and with these alone, he goes out to meet the giant
foe. All victory over evil is at least a shadow of that one
supreme victory which our Lord gained over the prince of
this world, once and forever, at the cross. While there are
details which have special reference to the character of the
enemy and the nature of the victory, applicable to special
periods in the history of God's people, these carry us back
always to the Cross. We, therefore, would take this as the
great lesson here before us.

David presents
himself to Saul who, it would seem, has forgotten the one
who had soothed his troubled spirit many a time before, and
reassures him. The enemy was defying, not man, but God; and
it was God's battle, not theirs. Thus faith ever reasons. It
sees the hostile adversary not against poor puny man, but
against the Lord of hosts.

To Saul's
inquiry, how he could meet such a mighty foe, and he but a
youth, David replies that already God has given him the
victory over both the lion and the bear, and would, in like
manner, deal with this foe. Our Lord had won the victory
over Satan at the time of temptation, and the cross,
therefore, was but the culmination of that same victory.
Thus David goes forth, meets the foe, overcomes him, and a
glorious triumph is the result; a triumph in which Saul
himself, for the time being, shares, and David is brought
before him and begins a new chapter in his life as the
recognized leader of the people.

Saul
himself rejoices in this victory, as though little realizing
what it meant for him personally. How much the world, though
dominated by the flesh, owes to the victory of Christ! The
very peace and order of government are the result of that
victory; and yet, alas, the world has only temporary
blessing resulting from it and would cast those results away
in the inevitable refusal of the reign of Christ and the
adoption of the Man of Sin as their king.

1 The reader will find much
profit in the "Life and Times of David" by C. H. M.; "Staff
and Sceptre" by C. K.; and the full and orderly Notes in the
Numerical Bible on the life of David.